PTC 4 - Day 1

04:52:00
Ramona Dragomir
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"The Rocket`s" first day at PTC 4 was filled with victories

Hello!Hello! I’ve got Sheffield on the line! :)) Well, that’s right people, the Sheffield Academy is restless in organizing snooker tournaments, and yesterday was the first day of the Players Tour Championship 4 (PTC 4). Many of you are in vacation maybe and that’s only normal, but not in the snooker world. Not if the world is ruled by Barry Hearn. :)) The guy introduced more competitions and tournaments and things are getting really busy for all the snooker players who want to get more raking points and to have a better position in the "charts". :P I absolutely loved Hearn’s interview from the first issue of "Snookered" magazine. He said: “In an year the players will be saying - there’s too much snooker, don’t we get a week off? And my answer will be: F**K off! You’re a professional sportsman. I go to work every day and I expect you do the same". What more can you say about that? The man knows his business.;)

But let’s get on with the show! :) The first day, although started as a "normal" one, you know the usually scorelines (4-0;4-1), it continued in a very competitive way. The scorelines were so tight, that it was practically impossible to tell who’s going to win. The comebacks, the twisted situations...all that spiced up with tension and lot of nerves.

Mark Selby, the winner of the PTC 2 event, had a very good start. He beat "The Mighty Mouse", Anda Zhang 4-2, and Dave Harold 4-1. But the next match was against Ronnie O`Sullivan. And that match was a totally whitewash for Mark, for he lost 4-0 to "The Rocket". These two guys seem to clash very often lately and it is really a shame that no-one can put a camera so we can see the matches. I mean, can you even imagine how these matches are? Ronnie v. Mark? It’s pure madness and it’s a must for every Snooker Loopy! :P :))

Maybe one of the biggest surprises of the tournament was the match between Stephen Hendry and Anthony McGill. Well, not the match as much as the result, for Hendry was defeated with an incredible 4-0. Now, I’m not saying that Anthony isn’t a good player, but to beat the seven-time world champion, and by this scorline...that’s really something! ;) But our little Tony just had one more victory against Alex Davis (4-1) and he got kicked out of the tournament by Judd Trump, who beat him 4-0.
Now, I know that Hendry is not playing like he used to do, but for me this guy still has a lot to say in the snooker world and I think it will be really great for him to participate in more tournaments. I mean, he needs to practice more, to smell the tournaments more, to be in touch with this crazy world of snooker more. I really hope he’ll have more luck and play better at the World Open.

And my bag isn’t empty, for I have more surprises for you guys. Jack Lisowski (the runner-up from PTC 3) although won over Michael Wasley (4-2), was whitewashed by Mark Davis 4-0. Martin Gould won his first match against Ian McCulloch (4-1), but lost the second one to the Chinese Marco Fu (4-1). And the Brazilian Igor Figueoredo, won over Anthony Parson 4-3 but changed the scoreline when playing against the Belgian Bjorn Haneveer to 3-4.

On the other hand, the star of the day was without any doubt, Ronnie O`Sullivan. I mean he was on fine! He won over Ryan Day (4-0), had an painful (not for him though) 4-1 with Ken Doherty and a more painful (not for him, also :P) 4-0 with "The Jester from Leicester".

So, this is how a crazy day looks in Sheffield. :)) And I’m sure that the second day of the tournament will be just the same. But let’s talk about that tomorrow, shall we? :P In the meantime, you can check the results, here. :)